Journalists, experts speak on the past and future of the looted antiquities trade at Princeton

The story that Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino told to the packed auditorium in Princeton University’s Robertson Hall on Wednesday was, in some sense, one that everyone knows.

“The story here is a story about human nature, about wanting something badly enough that you would justify it in any way you can,” said Frammolino.

Felch and Frammolino, the authors of “Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum,” were visiting Princeton to discuss the looted antiquities trade. This issue, brought to international attention by the Italian government’s 2006 indictment of former J. Paul Getty Museum curator Marion True, is not a new one in Princeton.

It has been just over a year since the Italian public prosecutor’s office began a criminal investigation of J. Michael Padgett, antiquities curator at the university’s museum.

Padgett, along with former antiquities dealer and Princeton alumnus Edoardo Almagià and two others, was named in a March 2010 Italian legal document that identified purportedly looted works. Although this document has not been made public, a June 2010 report in the New York Times noted that it identified over 20 allegedly looted works as donated or sold to the museum by Almagià in the 1990s and early 2000s. Princeton has identified nine of these items as part of its collection.

Renato Miracco, cultural attaché at the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C., said that no progress has been made on the case since last year.

“At this time, I don’t know of any news,” he said, adding that the case will move “step by step, day by day.”

Miracco added that he will attend a conference call next week with the U.S. State Department and Italian authorities to discuss this and other similar cases further.

“It’s a troubling story because we thought we were done with this,” said Felch. “The American museums thought Marion True was a test case. They may have miscalculated.”

He added that, as in the case of True, the 10-year statute of limitations will likely play a role in Padgett’s case. According to the report in The New York Times, although the document outlining the case alleges that the conspiracy continued until 2006, the most recent Princeton acquisition that it identifies occurred in 2001 with the museum’s purchase of a sixth-century B.C. vase.

“That gives them until 2016 to complete their case,” said Felch of the Italian prosecutor’s office. “If they could make that 2006 date stick, things could get really nasty for Mr. Padgett.”

Cass Cliatt, Princeton’s director of news and editorial services, said the university was not involved in Italy’s investigation and that, in response to it, Princeton undertook its own investigation in 2010.

“We have a very conservative acquisition policy in keeping with the 1970 UNESCO agreement,” said Cliatt. “The policy reflects the fact that the museum is committed to respecting every nation’s cultural heritage.”

The 1970 convention that Frammolino cited requires its 120 States Parties to prevent acquisition of looted antiquities and to facilitate cooperation as a turning point in the fight against illicit trade of antiquities.

“This was a way to pull together these patchwork laws and create more of a net that would stop the antiquities trade,” Frammolino said.

But, as Felch and Frammolino pointed out, it didn’t.

After the indictment of True, institutions around the country became the subject of increased scrutiny. These investigations were largely based on records and photographs of newly looted artifacts found in Italian art dealer Giacomo Medici’s warehouse.